


Short Stories

by massconvergence



Category: Original Work
Genre: Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24838513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/massconvergence/pseuds/massconvergence
Summary: An incredibly original title but here's where I'm throwing some short stories in for a fantasy book idea I've got. Mostly putting this here to share with friends and also I guess to build up hype so I actually feel motivated to write it.
Kudos: 1





	Short Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so I got this really cool world building idea that I decided to incorporate into a fantasy novel and I'm just trying to get back into the groove of writing things again and flesh out some world building and character concepts. Some of these stories might be written in a burst of creative energy at 3 in the morning with zero proof reading so I apologize for any grammatical errors. I will try to do better but well ... it's 2020. 
> 
> Also: I know I have a fanfic on this website. I know some are expecting said fanfic to get updated. It will .... at some point this year. :)

They heard the scraping from their listening post a few weeks earlier, the sharp thwack of a pick on rock was unmistakable to their trained ears. After establishing a few more posts in the area, they were able to locate where the tunnel was likely being dug.

Just be certain though, the general called on the local stone mage to be absolutely sure. They arrived at the site just as the sun began to rise over the eastern horizon, casting the jungle in a dim light.

The general was a formidable woman, she was tall and muscular, her skin only slightly lighter than the volcanic soil that covered the mountain behind her. Her long black hair was corded into thick dreadlocks and tied into a ponytail. She wore iron scale armor, accented with gold, that covered her torso and went down to her mid-thigh. Her arms were mostly bare except for leather forearm wraps and a pair of gauntlets. A sash tied around her waist held a short sword in its scabbard - though she carried a spear and small round shield as her main weapons. 

The mage, an older dark-skinned man wearing a cloth tunic and pants, knelt on the ground. His feet were calloused after years of walking barefoot, he placed both hands on the soil and closed his eyes, “Yes,” he almost whispered after a moment, “You’re right. There’s a tunnel here, I can feel it.” 

“Any idea on how big?” the general asked just as quietly.

Another moment of concentration, “Big enough to fit two, maybe three Sakaan abreast? It’s deep too.”

“Pah,” one of the warriors said, spitting on the ground, “Those cold blooded, beady eyed little…” 

A quick look from the general silenced the man. 

The mage said, “They shouldn’t be able to hear us speaking up here but we should still be as quiet as possible - just to be sure.” 

The general nodded, “Do you think you can get down to them from here?” 

The mage stood up, “What did you have in mind?” 

The general smirked, “Let’s discuss,” she said as she beckoned the man away, leaving a few of her soldiers to guard the site and listen to the digging. 

-

They came back just after noon, fifty soldiers stood in a wide semi circle around where the tunnel had been discovered, the mage finding where their intruders had made progress in the past few hours. The general stood by the mage as he stood over where the tunnel ended, “Here,” he said. 

The general nodded, looking to her lieutenant - another woman in similar armor to the general though with no gold ornamentation, she pointed to the ground where the mage stood, then made a wide half-circle motion with the same hand. 

The quiet order was clear to the lieutenant, “ _ Put the soldiers around here” _

Everyone in attendance was clear enough on the plan hashed out that morning to know where to go.

The sun beat down overhead, the jungle clearing filled with the sounds of birds, insects, and other animals. Everyone in the small army had a thin sheen of sweat on their forehead, they weren’t in the coolest of clothing. The soldiers wore mostly leather armor, though some were able to afford bronze or even iron armor. They were almost all armed with long spears and round shields, a few had bows and arrows, they stood at the top of the semi-circle and in front of the general as she backed away with the mage in tow. 

The mage crouched again, placing both hands on the ground and digging his fingers into the soil. After one last check to make sure everyone was in their place, the general lightly pat the mage on his shoulder twice. 

A moment later everyone in the area felt a tremble and heard a muffled crack from underfoot. A few flinched slightly at the noise but regained their composure quickly. The ground over the tunnel and a few feet to either side began to crack and then subside, collapsing into the void of the tunnel space below. 

There were sounds of muffled screams in the tunnel as whatever was burrowing down there was suddenly interred under feet of rock rubble and dirt.

“Shields!” the general yelled, “Weapons ready!” 

Shields were lifted in a defensive position, spears were hoisted and pointed at the collapsed portion of tunnel. Bows were lifted with arrows nocked onto the strings, aimed squarely at the dark hole of the tunnel that now was open to the light of day. 

A clawed hand burst through the rubble frantically waving around before another hand burst through the rubble right next to it. Slowly a large, scaled, and sinuous beast emerged from the ground, clearly dazed. Half of its body was still buried in the rubble but from what one could see of it’s upper body - it was a salamander-like creature with a blunt snout and slender body - however it was covered in thick scales. The general recognized it immediately as Sakaan. It hissed in pain as the sun hit its enlarged pupils and it recoiled, protecting its eyes with its arms and hands. Its eyes slammed shut against the light. 

Another Sakaan emerged from the dark tunnel, blinking against the harsh light. This one was in light iron armor, ornate patterns were carved into the breast plate and accented in gold. 

The general glared down at the creature, she knew the patterns - this was a higher ranking soldier. Probably sent to supervise the tunnel dig, “Intruder!” she yelled - she hoped it could understand what she was saying. 

It looked up at her, squinting into the afternoon light so much that its eyes appeared to be black slits in its scaled face.

“You are trespassing on Melimihā territory! Surrender at once or we will use force!” the general yelled. 

More Sakaan appeared behind the armored creature, similarly outfitted but with no special ornamentation on their armor. 

‘ _ A guard… or an invasion force? _ ’ the general wondered.

The Sakaan leader stared back at the general, “ _ Slllllaaaaaaaaaassssssssaaaaaaaa,”  _ it hissed.

‘ _ No surrender _ ,’ she translated. 

The Sakaan hissed to its followers, “ _ Salaaaaaaa! Salaaaaaaa! Salaaaaaaaaaaa!” _

‘ _ Kill! Kill! Kill!’ _

The general shouted her own orders, “Archers! Fire!”

The first volley went into those gathered below. One arrow pierced the chest unarmored lizard that was still trying to get out of the rubble pile, it blinked as it looked down at the shaft of the arrow now embedded in its chest. Slowly it fell forward, bent at the waist, its eyes glazed over in death.

The arrows mostly skittered off of the enemy’s armor, one arrow did strike the eye of a lizard-being and it went down clutching its eye as it let out a terrible scream. The Sakaan began crawling out of the trench that had once been the tunnel, drawing swords or hefting spears of their own. They were disorganized and disoriented - it became obvious why the general waited until afternoon when the mouth of the exposed tunnel would be facing into the sun.

These creatures - spending a lot of their lives underground - were unaccustomed to the bright of the overworld. Their eyes struggled to adapt to the bright sunlight and they could barely see the spearmen and women bearing down on them as they attempted to get a foothold. 

Still, they fought fiercely and more of them kept filtering out of the tunnel, replenishing their numbers. The general shouted orders to her army, “Hold the line! Don’t let them flank!” 

Still she saw a folly in her initial plan - she and the mage weren’t sure how much of the tunnel would collapse so she had kept her soldiers from completely surrounding where they intended to collapse the tunnel. It now allowed the Sakaan to flank them. She needed to do something. 

“Advance!” she yelled, “Advance on the tunnel entrance!” 

Her soldiers began moving in on the entrance, a few had abandoned their spears for their swords as the combat moved into closer quarters.

The Sakaan were very well armored, able to take several blows before someone was able to take them down. Their blades were keen, making quick work of the less well-armored humans. 

One human soldier was locked in combat with a Sakaan, he blocked the Sakaan’s blade with his shield and then pushed with the same shield, using his strength to knock the Sakaan off balance. The Sakaan staggered but righted itself much faster than the human anticipated, the Sakaan’s black and yellow mottled tail swung deceptively fast and knocked the man off his feet. 

The man managed to get one good stab at the creature’s unarmored leg before he was run through with a spear. The Sakaan limped off to find another enemy to fight. 

The general found herself facing off with her sword against the Sakaan leader, it glared at her as they circled each other in the chaos of battle. The general noticed that despite the heavy casualties on her side, the number of Sakaan seemed to be thinning out. 

“You can still surrender, you know,” she said.

The Sakaan’s only response was to attack, it opened its mouth and belched forth hot flame at her, she barely had time to raise her shield to deflect the attack. She felt her forearm heating up under the armor, out of the corner of her eye she noticed the tail coming at her legs. Swinging low with her sword, she felt the tip drag into the ground but more importantly she felt the sword slice through the tail of the Sakaan. 

It yelled in pain as she stepped forward - ignoring the heat that was now blistering her arm, her wooden shield was almost cinders at this point. The shield gave way under the inferno and she cried out in pain as she felt the flames hit her face and her left eye. Her sword hand came up and delivered a powerful uppercut to the jaw of the Sakaan. 

Its jaws closed with an audible and painful crack. It fell over, unconscious as the general fell to her knees and dropped her sword to clutch her burned face. 

“General!” her lieutenant yelled in worry, rushing over to her side.

One of the Sakaan saw their leader fall, it’s eyes widened in panic and it hissed something to those who were still fighting. Almost immediately the others stopped fighting, dropping their weapons and slowly raising their hands. With that, the battle came to an end.

“I’m… I’m fine,” the general said, waving off lieutenant, “Send a messenger for healers and reinforcements,” she ordered, voice hoarse with pain, “The rest of us need to get these prisoners secure and start tending to the wounded.” 

The mage had been wounded by a Sakaan spear during the battle. He leaned against a tree, clutching his blood soaked side, “What do you need me to do?”

“If you can,” the general said, “Collapse the rest of this tunnel, and make sure there’s no other dig teams.”

One of the surrendered Sakaan spoke up, hissing quickly. 

‘ _ We’re the only ones. We swear we’re the only ones. They made us do it. _ ’

The Sakaan was silenced by a look from one of its companions, but the Sakaan who had spoken looked pointedly down at the unconscious body of their leader.

The general stood up uneasily, taking a waterskin from her belt and gritting her teeth as she poured the contents on her burned face. She swore she heard a hiss of steam as the water hit the burn and spread a new wave of agonizing pain through her body. The vision in her left eye was completely dark. She didn’t even want to look at her left arm where the shield once was. 

She needed to make herself busy. 

A man lay nearby, grievously wounded with a spear sticking out of his stomach. Blood leaked out of the wound, adding to the large pool already surrounding him. The general didn’t need to be a healer to know he wasn’t long for this world. 

“Kera,” he rasped, spitting blood from his mouth. 

The general knelt by the man, taking his hand in her uninjured one, “Who?” she asked gently. 

“Kera,” he repeated weakly, “Take care of …” 

He went silent, eyes fixed on the sky overhead. 

A shadow passed over the battlefield and the general looked up, squinting at the sun as one of the moons partially eclipsed the star. The shadow was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared, the moon moving quickly to the east as the sun continued its slow westward trek to the horizon. 

“I promise I’ll take care of Kera,” she whispered, if Meli’s shadow was passing over the battlefield on this occasion - it had to be a sign. 

The god queen was watching.

-

The prisoners were rounded up and escorted through several miles of dense jungle and to the city that rested at the foot of a massive mountain. A royal guard stood to greet them at the gate, the general had allowed a healer to bandage her face but she refused to be put on a stretcher and carried back. The guard said, “The queen wants these prisoners to be fed, rested, and treated for injuries. We already sent an emissary to Saun Nik to explain the situation to them. General - the queen did request your presence to discuss what happened.”

“Understood,” the general said. 

The guard motioned for her to follow him and she obliged. 

The queen wasn’t in her throne, she only used that room to conduct official visits with diplomats and the public. Instead the general was led to the queen’s study, a large room lined with shelves stuffed with scrolls and books. At the center of the room was a large table with a map of the region on it. 

The guard knocked politely though the door was already open, the queen looked up from the book she was reading, “Who is it?” 

“General Urua, as you requested your majesty,” the guard said as the general stepped into view.

The queen let out a gasp, “Guard, fetch the royal healer  _ at once _ !” 

“Yes your majesty,” the guard said, quickly walking off - he had heard that tone used only a few times before. 

“ _ Urua _ ,” the queen said.

The general had the presence of mind to look slightly chastised at the tone her queen was using, “It’s not as bad as it looks?” 

“Your face is covered in bandages!” the queen said as she strode across the room to see her general’s wounds better, “Your eye… and your arm!”

“I got on the wrong side of a Sakaan’s fire blast,” Urua said, “But we defeated them, took their leader prisoner. Looked to be a small force, we took 6 prisoners and are still pulling dead Sakaan tunnelers out of the rubble as we speak.” 

“Losses?” the queen asked.

Urua said, “Ten killed on the battlefield, twenty-seven wounded severely - including me.”

The queen reached up, as if to touch Urua’s face, but thought better of it, she was no healer. The royal healer came striding into the room, slightly out of breath, she set down her bag and took one look at Urua, “My queen,” the healer said, “General … if you please - this will probably go better if you were in the infirmary where I had access to all my medicines.” 

“Of course,” the queen said, “General Urua,” she nodded at the healer. 

“But the rest of my report?” Urua asked.

“That can wait or I can call your lieutenant, I’m sure she’s fully capable of giving a report,” the queen said, “ _ You _ need to get taken care of.”

Urua didn’t dare question her queen and went off with the healer while the queen called on the guard to bring the lieutenant in. 

-

The Sakaan were stripped of their weapons and all held in a large prison cell, the younger of the two guards tasked with keeping watch could hardly tell the difference between the lizard-creatures. One of them approached the bars of the cell and the guard put his hand on the hilt of his sword, “Don’t come any closer.” 

The older guard placed a steadying hand on the younger guard’s shoulder while the Sakaan quietly raised its hands in a peaceable gesture. It hissed, motioning to the others in the cell while it did so, then tapped its mouth and then stomach with a claw. 

“We’re bringing you food and water,” the older guard said, “Don’t worry.”

The Sakaan dipped its head as if nodding before walking slowly back to its companions.

“You can understand what they’re saying?” the younger guard asked. 

The older guard said, “Yes, they can’t speak our language. Some of them have learned to try and communicate through signing. I couldn’t really understand the hissing but I could definitely get the signing.” 

“Wait,” the younger guard said, “Why can’t they speak our language?”

“No lips.”

-

Urua walked outside the next morning, her wounds had been tended to by the healer who advised her to rest for the next week. 

“You might never see out of that eye again,” the healer had told her.

She decided a night’s sleep was good enough for her. 

The ten dead soldiers were being buried at the foot of the volcano they called Melitoani or Meli’s Throne. Families of the deceased were gathered there, clouds had gathered over the massive mountain’s summit and threatened rain. 

“Meli!” the priestess in charge of the ceremony yelled, looking skyward towards the summit, “Today ten of our warriors come to your side to fight for you in the armies of the afterlife!” 

Ten bodies, wrapped in cloth dyed blue lay side by side in front of a massive trench. Two men came by and lay each of the bodies into the dark earth as the priestess chanted a prayer. Thunder rumbled overhead. 

Kera was pointed out to Urua after the ceremony drew to a close, a young girl who clutched the trouser leg of her grandfather as she watched her father get lowered into the ground. Her dark brown eyes were misty but no tears fell. 

Urua walked over to the girl. The grandfather nodded respectfully to Urua, “General,” he said as Kera dug her face into the cloth trouser leg. 

Urua knelt so that she could see Kera eye-to-eye. Kera peered out shyly, almost curiously at the general, Urua offered a small and kind smile. 

“I knew your father,” she said as she placed a hand on Kera’s shoulder, “He was a brave man and I made a promise to him that I would protect you.”

-

Two weeks later, the queen was in her throne room addressing the sizable diplomatic party the emissary from the Sakaan had gathered, including the leader of the clan the Sakaan attacker was apparently a part of. 

Said attacker was standing in the throne room, the stub of its tail heavily bandaged. 

“You can’t reasonably expect me to believe,” the queen was saying, “That this was a huge misunderstanding!”

The emissary hissed a few words and the court interpreter translated, “Not a misunderstanding,” the interpreter said, “Clan Leader Sila’s child was … being a glory seeker.” 

More hissing.

“Clan Sila takes full responsibility for the regrettable and brash actions of their child, they only ask your forgiveness and that they get custody of their child back,” the interpreter said. 

“I’d hardly call a fully grown Sakaan a child,” the queen retorted.

“My queen, there’s no good translation for the term offspring  _ other _ than child, they don’t use terms like daughter or son like we do,” the interpreter said, “I apologize.” 

“Furthermore,” the queen said, “That ‘brash action’ resulted in the deaths of ten soldiers, several dozen injuries, an encroachment onto sovereign territory, and a threat to our holy site. I’m going to need more than regret and a lukewarm apology.”

The Sakaan emissary responded. 

“Clan Sila will punish their … offspring … to the fullest extent of Sakaan law,” the interpreter said, “The Sakaan do not wish to harm their trade partnership with Melimihā. They come bearing gifts as a peace offering, they just ask for their prisoners back.” 

The queen was quiet for a moment, her face emotionless lest she give away what she was thinking. 

The last thing she needed right now was tense relationships with the civilization bordering her nation. The Sakaan mostly kept to themselves, hardly a warmongering society and hardly interested in the “Blinding Lands” as they called anywhere above ground. They lived in and in the ground around volcanoes and mountains mostly, which was why this Sakaan had tried to burrow its way into their territory - likely to try and lay claim to Melitoani. 

It seemed like a single attack, a solitary event by an overly confident Sakaan. The likelihood of it being the precursor to a larger attack by the Sakaan was unlikely but she had to be sure they wouldn’t try it again. 

“Fine,” she said, “The prisoners are released into Sakaan custody. They stay in chains until they reach our borders though. And be warned, if this happens again, the full might of Melimihā’s armies will bear down on you and your ilk,” she said to the emissary, “And we won’t be taking any prisoners.” 

The emissary nodded and hissed.

“They understand,” the interpreter said. 

As the leader of Clan Sila escorted their chained clan member out of the throne room, they leaned so their mouth was next to the young Sakaan’s ear. It was a quiet hiss, so quiet no one could hear but the young Sakaan.

“ _ Next time. Don’t get caught. _ ” 


End file.
